


honeymoon period

by cloudedhues



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, newlyweds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 06:04:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3370580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudedhues/pseuds/cloudedhues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU drabbles and ficlets of newlyweds adjusting to married life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. lunch

"Hello?"

"How do you turn off the smoke detector?"

As was his way, he gave no greeting and to his wife’s credit, she barely took a beat before she gave him an answer.

"Are you burning down our apartment?"

It took a couple of seconds for him to piece out what she was saying, especially as he was competing against the overwhelming cacophony of beeping too disproportionate in volume to the small size of the contraption emitting it. His alarm clock must be less annoying than this, he griped. A haze of smoke took residence throughout the wider space of kitchen but he couldn’t bring himself to care at that point.

The detector was at least an effective indicator in that way—meaning that if he felt calm enough to feel pissed off, then that was usually a good sign that the danger had passed.

"Shinya?" Genuine concern crept into her voice and he realized that he’d been unresponsive for more than a minute.

"Of course not," he finally replied, resisting a cough as he reached for a wire, battery lid, something to shut the thing off. "I barely even singed the curtains."

"That’s comforting." There was a slight crack of sickness in her voice, something he picked up on even with the commotion happening. "You’re supposed to unscrew the cover and switch it off to take the batteries out. Have you never handled a smoke detector before?"

"No. I must have missed that class."

He followed her directions to a tee, or at least tried to until the second his fingers accidentally got ahold of the wires and snapped them, not thinking that they would disconnect so easily. The immediate silence confirmed that the contraption would not be activating again any time soon. Not that he was complaining. His ears felt happier already.

"Well, never mind. It just turned itself off right now. Kind of. I’ll probably need to go to the hardware store later."

"Right. So, um, why did the alarm go off?"

"Ah, you know me. Committing arson as usual."

He took a dishtowel rag and attempted to sway the haze of smoke through the open window. He didn’t have to look at the pot to know that the food was a lost cause.

"Oh. Hobby of yours?"

"More like a glorified pastime."

"Of course."

He could practically hear the smile in her voice but made a conscious effort not to linger at that. Silence followed and he basked in it, simply satisfied with the fact that she was with him even when she was not. As he cleared the air in the room, he attempted to guess her surroundings by trying to imagine where she was and what she was doing. It reminded him of their weekend outings when they would explore the neighborhood, wandering and enjoying each other without any aim or word shared between them.

He listened closely, getting lost in the cadence of her steady breaths. The pattern of steps suggested that she was on foot, and the rip of tissue paper and the small sneeze that followed afterwards tempted him to tease her into annoyance if only he had not been feeling so out of sorts at that moment.

They’d been separated for at least two weeks now, far more than he anticipated or was accustomed to. She had been sent cities away for work purposes and would not come back at least two days from now, but he was beginning to think that their Chief only brought her along to enact some personal vendetta against him. This sense of imbalance certainly made him feel that way at least.

Even when she was normally here, even though they literally lived and worked at the same place, he rarely saw her for more than an hour every weekday at most. He was sure that the Chief moved him to night shifts only out of spite because she had been dead-set against him marrying her protégée since the beginning. There were many people in general who disapproved of their marriage—what with their age gap, people’s general misconceptions about him, and the simple fact that their boss tolerated him just enough not to fire him. Normally, he wouldn’t care but she had sway over Akane—namely over her work, which might as well have been her life anyway.

"So what were you doing with the stove exactly?" she asked, derailing his thoughts.

"Trying to feed myself, of course."

She coughed, nearly hacking in surprise. “You cook?”

"I cook.” He tried not to sound too defensive.

"Since when?"

"Since forever? I did have a life before you—hard as that is to believe. I had to make do somehow then."

She hummed teasingly. “Really? I remember the first time I met you, you forgot you left foil in the microwave at the station and practically set it on fire.”

"Are you sure that wasn’t you?"

"Yes, I’m pretty sure." Her endearing giggles soon gave way to coughs and he would’ve been more concerned about it had her amusement not been so infectious.

He leaned against the island counter, listening to her chatter aimlessly about other topics. A distant yell and the honking of a car along with other ambient noise of traffic suggested that she was outside. 

"Where are you now?" he asked after another beat of silence.

"Out. I have to run an errand for the Chief."

He frowned. “Can’t she get someone else to do that? Are you wearing a sweater by the way? I hear it’s chilly out there.”

"I’m fine, Mom."

"Did you take any medicine?"

"Yes. But I’d rather wait till I got home to fully recover."

He cleared his throat, dispelling his overwhelming agreement to have her here.

"Well, I can kidnap you if you want," he offered, only half-joking.

"That sounds romantic." The traffic noise receded on her end and he could hear the swish of a door that suggested she’d gone inside a building.

"It is."

"Well that kidnapping part’s not entirely necessary though." Before he could say anything in reply, he heard the jangle of keys from the main entrance of the apartment and momentarily froze when he saw her crack open the door and move in from behind.

"Surprise," she whispered. A smile unfurled on her face. "I landed from the airport about an hour ago. You caught me on the way over."

"You’re here," he stated inanely as if to confirm that his eyes weren’t deceiving him. He stared at the phone then at her and set it aside as he watched her drop her bags and take off her shoes. His mind grasped for some semblance of thought but all that registered was the simple fact that she was here in front of him. And though she looked as sick as she sounded, her presence already made a considerable impact in the temperature seeing as how he felt incredibly warm all of a sudden.

"How’d you manage to get here early?" he asked for lack of anything else better to say.

"I told the Chief I had a premonition of a disaster happening. Like a house fire for example," she remarked dramatically as she approached the kitchen and leaned against the arch. "It took some convincing for her to let me go."

"Huh. You’d think she’d want to tag along too if for no other reason than to watch me burn down with the apartment."

"Very funny." She smiled again.

They both stared, taking each other in for a moment of complete silence but in an instant second afterwards, she was already on him just as he stepped forward. He took her by the waist as she wrapped herself around him, both carrying weights of exhaustion and relief all at once. He buried his nose in her hair, and wondered how he managed to live without the experience of feeling her skin on his.

"I was going to come up with this elaborate scheme to surprise you but I just wanted to be home as soon as possible."

"You were lying to me all this time, you minx." He leant his forehead against hers, regarding her without looking too worried. "But I’m glad you’re here early. I swear you’re going to overwork yourself one day."

"I’ll take better care," she promised.

"You better. I barely get to see you so I can’t nag you as much as I’d like. Did you know that we literally have not seen each other for 16 days?"

"You’ve been keeping count?"

"And you haven’t?" He frowned, face simultaneously kidding and serious. "You know what Kagari told me today? He said we should be taking advantage of the honeymoon period now before we become ‘old and boring’. I’m beginning to think he’s right."

"I can’t believe you’re taking marriage tips from a guy who reads click-bait articles during his breaks," she laughed, far too amused. "Besides, I don’t know what you’re worrying about. I promise, if I ever let myself get to your age, I’ll still carry around your cane for you."

"You implying something?"

"I’m just kidding. Mostly." She appeased him with a soft peck on his shoulder and sweetness dripping from her voice, then turned her eyes to the lingering smoke still congregated on the stove. "Should I even try to salvage whatever it was you were trying to cook?"

”Nah. I don’t think our microwaving skills are up to par.”

”You’re right. How about we go next door to that donburi place?”

”I like that idea. Or maybe we can stay in and order delivery. Catch up maybe. Among other things…?”

She giggled at his suggestion and barely repressed a yawn when she snuggled against him. “Can we move this conversation somewhere else though? The smoke’s making me dizzy.”

”I think I can help with that.”

He let her disentangle her limbs from his grip but didn’t allow her a chance to argue when he swept her off of her feet in an instant, carrying her all the way to the dining room despite her outcries of surprise. He set her down on the table, trapping her with his entire body and effectively smothered any further complaints. It really had been far too long since he last kissed her.

"Tsk. Don’t be cruel. You know how I can be down there." He broke off only when he felt her fingers hovering over the vulnerable spots on his hips.

"You mean ticklish?" She raised an eyebrow in challenge.

He glared at her. “You know what you’ll be starting if you do this.”

”Such a threat,” she crooned, and let out an involuntary mix of a gasp and breathless laughter when his hands tried her sides, mercilessly tickling her to concede defeat. She shook with repressed laughter when he playfully nibbled at the sensitive spot on her neck. “You win, you win! I give!”

He smiled victoriously and brought her back to him, inhaling her mirth as the knot in his stomach burgeoned for a need to take her in even closer.

"I missed this," he confessed in the space of their breaths, tasting her gasps when he was not murmuring affirmations on her skin. "I missed you."

"So have I." She returned the favor with a languid stroke of her tongue on his lips, worrying the bottom with a light suck. Some form of hesitation must have crossed her mind when his hands reached out under her shirt however because she pulled back from the contact, separating their mouths with her hand. "Wait. Bad idea. This is a bad idea."

"What?"

"I just remembered that I’m contagious. We need to stop."

"A little too late for that. I’m probably already infected," he said quite seriously. He nipped at her finger and she mustered a glare.

"You need to get away from me."

"Can’t."

"I’m in a fragile state, you jerk. If we go any further, you’ll get sick, too.”

"I thought vigorous cardio was good for your health." He seemed as if he were seriously gearing up for a debate but the wolfish look he gave her told her that he didn’t even consider the possibility of defeat.

"Not when you’re sick. That’s not even a thing." She didn’t sound the least bit impressed.

"But still worth a try though, right?" He leaned in for another attempt at her lips but she ducked just in time. A whine lodged in his throat but he knew that he was above such things.

He rolled his eyes instead. “I think I can handle a little of whatever it is you’re under. Just try me.”

"You say that now, but watch when we’re both in sick leave and we’ll have to deal with the Chief when we’re both stuck in bed."

"Sounds kinky."

She bit her lip from smiling and pretended to reproach him, “You’ll say differently once you’re hyped up on Nyquil.”

"Can’t think of a more perfect reason to be drugged up."

"Passed out with no one to take care of us both? Not as romantic as you think it’ll be." She sounded so certain and it irked him enough to want to shut her up. Preferably with his mouth.

"It’s still better than being unconscious alone. At least my hands’ll have something to hold onto." He prodded her to the idea with a demonstration by lightly running his fingers on her thighs.

"I don’t buy it. You and that dirty mind of yours will get you in trouble one day." She seemed convinced of herself despite her obvious attempts to repress the wonders his hands were doing.

"It already has. Repeatedly. I’m the textbook example of bad decisions, remember? What difference will one more make?"

"You’re more sensible than you believe." He surmised that she was clearly not being too coherent at this point. "You did marry me after all. That was a pretty smart move."

"Are you kidding? You’re the highest offense. I can’t get any worse than you."

She closed her eyes, body unconsciously arching against his.

"Incorrigible. That’s what you are." 

He would undo her soon. He was certain.

”That makes both of us.”

”True,” she mumbled as his hands began to wander to other places. She swallowed a gasp when he bit lightly on her ear. “We still need to eat, by the way.”

"Right. So are we staying in or eating out?"

”Is that a suggestion?”

"I mean eat out as in food. I didn’t even think about it like that.” He bumped his forehead against hers teasingly, affecting offense despite the careless motions of his thumbs. “Although I’m not exactly opposing the latter if you’re offering.”

"Right. Of course." She still didn’t sound too convinced as she fiddled with the lapels of his shirt, not even noticing that she’d basically allowed him to work her to defeat. 

”And you call me dirty-minded,” he scoffed, smiling despite himself. Her shirt was already half unbuttoned and she didn’t even realize.

"I blame your influence."

"Yeah? Well, I blame you." He took her weight off the table, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist as she held onto him with surprising acceptance. "Guess that makes things even."

He began walking them to the bedroom and only halted for a second when she asked, “Wait. What about lunch?”

"It can wait." And from his tone of voice, it seemed as if it certainly could.


	2. quirks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newlyweds quirks as prompted by those domestic ask meme things. Happy late Valentine's Day, loves!

  

> **i. Who’s more dominant**  

 

“Don’t you dare –”

Her glare faltered with a smothered giggle. He easily towered over her, mock menace as his hands trapped her against the wall.

He would’ve scoffed at the cliche had it not been so effective. He dropped his head at the crook of her neck, smiling a little at the vibrations of her laughter.

“That tickles.”

His lips traveled at the softness of her skin, leaving a trail by her jugular with a graze of his teeth. His left hand took its own time wandering underneath her shirt, circling above her hips in the hopes that she could entice him to leave some new proof of his stay.

“I think I’d prefer them lower,” she said, her breath deepening. “And harder, too.”

“Harder, huh?“ he said, punctuating the word with a nip at her ear. “Is that an order?”

“Just a friendly suggestion.”

“Well, good thing I’m friendly then.” He slipped past the frills of her skirt and stroked the skin of her inner thighs with his knuckles, barely touching what she really asked for. She pressed her nails on his chest with enough bite that he wondered if she was properly pouting.

Honestly. This woman.

“I think you can do a little better than that.”

She was definitely pouting.

“So bossy,” he scolded.

“Bossy? You’re the one who’s on top of me.”

He had a good chuckle at that.

“Trust me,” he murmured, watching her gasp as his thumb urged her exactly where she wanted. “If there’s anyone on top here, it’s certainly not me.”

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

> **ii. What’s their favorite non-sexual activity**

 

The best thing about living in the middle of a city was that there was never a shortage of sights to satiate the curiosity of someone like Tsunemori Akane. And so it was that one Saturday they both found themselves wandering into the new touring exhibit that had just opened at the natural history museum downtown.

“Do you see this?” she practically squealed, her hand latching onto his arm as she dragged him to where an impressive array of trilobites and other fossils were in display near the wall. “I’ve never seen so many in one place. Look! They have an entire collection of coprolite here.”

“What’s that?”

“Dinosaur droppings.”

“Oh. That’s, uh…interesting.”

He watched as she rounded on one of the museum attendants with a question, one he was sure was only the first of many. He couldn’t help the twinge of sympathy as the flustered man struggled to keep up with the pace of her enthusiasm.

Akane’s youthfulness was constant even as she matured but even then, she never displayed much of the uninhibited manner most people in her age group exhibited. Oftentimes, it was hard to tell her exact age when she was acting older than she actually was.

“Shinya! Did you know you can trace a creature’s migratory patterns just by investigating the kind of parasites that lived in their feces?” she remarked as if it was the most brilliant thing in the world.

He sighed with fondness as he steered her away from the poor attendant, who looked back at him with relief and gratification.

“Really? Why don’t you tell me all about it?” he asked as he led her to the herbivore exhibit.

The Akane who was older than her years was all he’d known when it came to her. But as she chattered on about the chemical processes of digestion for reptiles like a little kid talking about their favorite toy, he found that the fact that he met new surprising sides of her was not surprising at all.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

> **iii. Who uses all the hot water**

 

She heard him curse in the bathroom and hid a guilty laugh by taking a bite of last night’s leftovers. She donned an expression as innocent as she could muster when he finally came out of the bedroom, still bare except for a towel wrapped around his waist.

“You know, you’re not doing the environment any favors by staying in the shower for half an hour and stealing all the hot water,” he said dryly as he shook his hair dry before taking a bite of the granola bar she had planned to save for later.

“Is that all you’re going to eat? At least have some of mine,” she chided as she pushed him her plate. “And it’s not my fault that it’s too cold in the mornings.”

“So selfish. You’re so tiny. You’re – what? 5'3”? Think of the other people in this household who have more body surface to cover.“

“Excuse you – 5'4”. And that’s average height, for your information.“

"I’m just saying, it wouldn’t kill you to cut your time by ten minutes, now would it?” he lectured, which she would have taken more seriously had his mouth not been full of rice.

“That, or you could just join me in the shower,” she offered. “You know. Cut water use. For the good of the environment.”

He chewed the last of her breakfast thoughtfully, tilting his head like he was considering. “Sounds like a reasonable alternative. But I don’t know how efficient that’d be.”

“Depends. Just how efficient are you?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

He gave her a look she knew very well and she couldn’t help but laugh as she cleared the table. The fact that he was still in his towel was not helping matters.

“We could try it tomorrow morning. A test run to see if it works.”

“For the good of the environment,” he added like an afterthought.

“Of course,” she nodded quite seriously. “For the good of the environment.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **iv. Most trivial thing they fight over**

 

“Typically people buy their books first before reading them instead of the other way around.”

“I’m still not convinced this is worth the money,” he muttered seriously.

It’s been more than an hour, she wanted to say. He’d been eyeing through something he’d found in the fiction section, which wouldn’t have been a problem had this not been his third time to return to the same book in the span of ten minutes.

She bit her tongue. “All right, well, while you’re still looking, at least let me buy the ones you’ve decided on for the meantime.”

He handed her the two books under his arm, nearly aiming for her face in his distracted state. She confiscated them both before he could do any damage.

“Don’t you already have a copy of this one?” she remarked when she glanced at one of the covers. It was one of his favorites, she recalled.

"It went missing.” She could’ve sworn she’d seen it recently.

“Really? When was the last time you saw it?”

“I don’t know. Six months ago?”

"Oh,” she swallowed guiltily, the memory coming back. She remembered him lending it to her. And her forgetting all about it. “Right. Uh, really there’s no need to buy this. The old one’s probably in my drawer at home.”

“Probably? If I lent it to you, why haven’t you been reading it?”

“I have! It’s just been…slow going.”

“It’s 256 pages,” he muttered carelessly.

Akane’s mouth opened in offense. The words were out there before she realized.

“Well it doesn’t help that it’s 256 of the driest pages ever.“

For the first time since they entered the store, Shinya looked up, his expression equally offended. "Driest?”

“You heard me,” she replied stubbornly.

The book he was holding lowered several inches. “It’s a _classic_.”

“It’s _boring_.“

"You just don’t understand.”

“Or it’s just boring.”

“Fine,” he crossed his arms, other book fully lowered enough to be forgotten. “How is it boring to you?”

“How would any of his machismo and languishing be enjoyable to me?”

“It’s a real, human account of the after effects of war–”

“Barely human. The guy writes like wringing out another syllable about his emotions will kill him.”

A mutinous expression crossed his face. He nodded at the book she was planning to buy for herself.

“Sharp criticisms from the woman who reads pulp novels.”

“Well you just have no taste there,“ she said airily.

"You’re picking that over Hemingway and you say I have no taste?”

She huffed and read the back of the book. “Space warriors, intergalactic politics and interspecies romance. Does your Hemingway have that?”

Before Shinya could open his mouth, Akane had turned around and was already making a beeline for the register.

“We’re not done here, Akane,” he called out as he followed, hot at her heels.

Baiting him out was just too easy sometimes.

 

 

 

* * *

  

 

> **v. Who does most of the cleaning**  

 

Akane was by no means a messy person, but Shinya’s economical approach to personal possessions past his books and practical household items meant that most of the clutter in their apartment belonged to her. So it was only fair that she took charge of Spring cleaning every now and then. Their space was small to begin with so it didn’t take long for them to finish. They had started mid-morning and the sun was still at its peak when they finished and arrived at the ice cream store a block away as a little reward for their hard work.

Shinya didn’t have a sweet tooth but Akane insisted on sharing a large sundae every time they came here. Besides, it was not like he had much to complain about.

“You’re so messy,” she laughed in utter delight at the bit of ice cream that had smeared at the corner of his lip.

His resulting frown only quirked in reply when she leaned forward to swipe the offensive chocolate with her thumb before licking it clean with her tongue.

“Speak for yourself,” he said, voice darkening a little as she giggled and reminded him, little tease that she was, to tone it down since they were still in the presence of children.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **vi. What has a season pass on their DVR/Who controls the Netflix queue**  

 

The TV in their apartment served more as a prop they’d been stuck with as a wedding gift rather than something actually used for its original function. But when Kagari urged Akane to watch a new sci-fi series that had just been exclusively released, she did the rare occurrence of turning it on during one of her days off.

She had worn her flannel pajamas for the occasion and hunkered on the couch with a blanket and a cup of cocoa.

And that was how Shinya came across her later that night, sitting on the floor with the blanket draped over her head and entire body, eyes glued on the screen.

"I’m home,” he looked at the screen then back at her. “Looks like you had a productive day off.”

She mumbled a distracted hello.

Akane’s usual welcomes went more along the lines of a kiss and and a conversation lasting for 10 minutes about the inanities of how their day went as they procrastinated over what to do for dinner. Shinya stared at her for a good moment before taking out his phone.

“Should I get delivery then?”

Another mumble.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

He placed an order for Chinese and left for a long bath. By the time he was done, the food had arrived and Akane was still stuck on the screen, only moving her hands every now and then to take a bite from her carton. He tried to get something out of her that was more than a syllable but he was terrible at conversation to start and her attention seemed entirely devoted to…whatever this was.

The following week, it seemed to be all that she wanted to talk about.

It would have been one thing to indulge another one-sided discussion about characters and plot points he had no clue about. Or for Kagari to become an even more frequent intruder during their lunch breaks. Or even for Shinya to play third wheel in every conversation between the two fanatics.

But it’d be another to deal with Akane’s too-obvious infatuation over the white-haired and charismatic main lead. Shinya had more tolerance and little tendency for jealousy than most who did not know him well were led to believe. But even a controlled man couldn’t fully escape fallibility.

“He’s so clever,” she sighed as she and Kagari were re-watching some scenes during their lunch break.

Shinya resisted a frown as Akane smiled at her phone like a lovestruck teenager, no doubt imagining her hypothetical wedding with this asshole. Akane wasn’t susceptible to infatuation, but when it came, it stayed. He of all people should know.

“I pegged him as your type,” Kagari snickered. “Have you gotten Kou-chan to watch it yet?”

“No, she hasn’t. And she won’t,” he interrupted, stabbing at his microwave dinner with a fork, a little outraged that the meat was being so uncooperative.

“He’s convinced I’m going to leave him for a fictional vigilante anarchist,” Akane whispered conspiratorially. "He’s never going to try it since he’s too resentful to commiserate with the enemy.”

They both laughed under their breaths. His jaw twitched.

"You know I can hear you both from here.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **vii. Who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working**

 

An angry Akane, especially when her wrath was not directed at him, was quite a sight to see. Her cheeks would flush, the points of her ears would turn red, face pulling together in a way that made it almost endearing. The fact that it was the same face she made when she was at the brink of pleasure was perhaps another reason.

This however was a bit worrying.

Akane had been at the phone for nearly fifteen minutes now in the bedroom, voice steadily increasing in harshness and volume even from where he sat in the living room.

He dropped his book on the couch and made his way behind the door, practically feeling her distress from the other side.

“I’m being unreasonable?” her muffled voice said in outrage. “I’ve already called about the heat four times now and gotten no response whatsoever. I’m not the unreasonable one here, and—! Oh, now that is uncalled for. I may come off strong but that’s no reason to call me a bitch, Sir, how would you feel if I called you a complete and total–”

Suddenly, she felt the phone disappear from her hands. Akane blinked, adrenaline from her anger tapering off to a sputter as she watched him steal the phone to their bathroom. She followed, not even bothering to be surprised that he locked it behind him.

“Shinya, open up.” The doorknob jangled ineffectively. She tried a couple more times, mimicking what he had done earlier and pressed herself at the wood to hear better. She couldn’t hear much of anything, his voice too lowered to make any sense from where she was standing. She was about to call out again when the door suddenly unlocked and swung open, nearly hitting her head. She watched his face carefully as he handed the phone back to her.

“What…happened?”

“Took care of it. They’ll send a guy to check on the water heater tomorrow morning.”

“That’s it?”

He only gave her a slight smile. Akane didn’t buy it.

“What’s the catch? What did you do?” she asked skeptically, watching him return to his book on the couch.

“No catch. We talked. Like reasonable adults.”

Akane gave him a dubious look.

“And…I might have implied that I knew 8 different ways to stop someone’s heart with one hand.”

“Shinya.”

“A little threat never hurt anyone. Gets the blood pumping. From how old and stiff he is, he probably needs it.”

“He’s our landlord.”

“And he called you a bitch. You think I’d let anyone get away with that?” His face was hidden from her but the sharp edge in his voice was unmistakable. She couldn’t help the surge of affection then, even if it did conflict with her still-present temper.

“You know if I wasn’t so worried about the likely possibility of our eviction, I’d say how impressive you were in the way you handled that.”

“Only impressive?” She could hear the smugness in his voice.

“And kind of attractive but that’s neither here nor there,” she said dismissively.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **viii. Who leaves their stuff around**  

 

They didn’t hear the buzzer, too busy they were in paying attention to the way Akane was pulling at that exact spot on his scalp through his hair or how Shinya had somehow found his way to the clips of her bra. He successfully unclipped the thing, throwing it somewhere in the room. She had settled comfortably on his lap, fidgeting so she could feel him tense in his attempts to suppress the sounds crawling out his throat. She mewled appreciatively when he lathered his tongue quite generously with hers, nearly aching to shimmy out her pants to follow along with her bra and shirt when they heard the knock.

Without even a break in stride, Shinya carried her with him to the door, her arms around his shoulders and her legs crossing around his back as she held on with a scandalized giggle. She pulled away when he anchored her against the wall, gasping when his hot breath made its way to the side of her neck.

“Who is it?” To her credit, she didn’t even sound the slightest bit affected even as he was busying himself with nibbling her ear.

“A kind neighbor of yours let me up,” the cheery, familiar voice from the other side replied. “I thought I’d surprise you both with dinner.”

Shinya stiffened, and Akane practically threw herself away to disentangle from him.

“Crap, it’s my grandma,” she whispered in alarm, then in a louder voice, “Just a second!”

A hurried minute later, Akane swung the door open. Her hair was slightly disheveled and she was struggling to slow her breaths while Shinya was perfectly collected as if he had just stood up from lounging on the couch to greet Akane’s grandmother like the model son-in-law he was. Only his dilated pupils were an indication.

Her grandmother hugged him first. He had gotten better at this hugging business and returned it less awkwardly than he usually did. Akane, for her part, pretended not to feel annoyed. The urge to be her grandmother’s favorite was something she still carried even now. But it seemed childish to be jealous of her own husband. She was the only one in Akane’s family to approve of her marriage with him after all.

The hug Aoi gave to her was no less affectionate.

She came in, letting Shinya take the bag of food to carry and chattering about the dear waitresses who were so very helpful in the bistro and the nice young man who directed her to the apartment and really, Akane, you look so thin, have you been eating enough…?

Akane brought her to the couch and was about to respond when she saw her grandmother’s attention divert elsewhere. She followed her gaze and blanched at the sight of her lacy bra dangling from one of the wings of the ceiling fan.

"My dear,” she started, pausing for so long that Akane felt herself readying to spill everything like she usually did to her grandmother.

"You have to be more attentive to your clutter,” she said simply, though her knowing eyes said otherwise.

Akane blushed but nodded.

“That’s what I keep telling her,“ Shinya commented unnecessarily from the kitchen.

She threw a warning look at his back, feeling his oblivious smugness even from here. Aoi smiled with amusement and changed the subject to something else.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **ix. Who remembers anniversaries**  

 

_tonight 7PM at overpriced curry place. circle: yes or yes_

Her husband was a five-year-old, to say the least.

“Really. A sticky note?”

“I thought it’d be romantic. You’re the swooner type, aren’t you?”

“I had this note stuck on my back for five hours before one of my coworkers finally pointed it out to me.”

“I bet they were envious.”

“They weren’t. And I don’t swoon.”

“Sure.”

“We’re married.” - _You idiot_ , was on the perch of her lips - “It’s kind of obligated that I celebrate our anniversary with you.”

“Obligated? You make it sound like this is contractual. When did you become the cynical one?”

“I’m not cynical,” she said, cheeks pink. “I just think that you should be able to ask me out loud without having to be weird about it.”

She leaned forward to stick the note to his forehead, momentarily satisfied at the sight. He frowned and peeled it off.

“I don’t think I would have handled rejection well if you did it to my face,” he said, completely not serious. “But just my luck that you’re already here, right?”

“I could always take a cab home.”

“You could, or you could stay and help me finish this.” Right on cue, the waiter arrived with an elegantly decorated cake. It was drizzled with chocolate, which just made it even more unfair.

She stared at him blankly for a few seconds before frowning, her spoon already titling towards the bribe. “Just so you know, I’m only here for the dessert.”

Shinya smiled fondly as she stuffed her mouth with chocolate. "Happy anniversary, Akane.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **x. Who cooks normally**

 

“I don’t understand what I did wrong.”

Akane looked at the disaster with helplessness while Shinya peered at the cooking book as if he were in an interrogation room. She held the bowl of slop up to her face, thinking that getting closer to it would reveal any answers. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t tell her anything.

“The instructions are obviously defective,” he determined a few minutes later.

“I don’t think that’s it. Do you think maybe it’s because I’m really horrible at cooking?”

“Of course not. I eat your cooking just fine.” But he took a short second in consideration of this possibility. Akane looked up at him.

“Well, maybe. To some, it’s likely. An exaggeration, but likely,” he admitted. “Also it probably doesn’t help that you use too much chili peppers for everything.”

“I thought that would make it healthier. Chili pepper’s a fruit, right?”

“I don’t think it works that way.”

They stared at the concoction on their counter with varying levels of defeat before Shinya took out his phone and started dialing.

“Pepperoni or vegetarian?”

“Pepperoni,” she said mournfully as she dropped the mess into the trashcan.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **xi. How often do they fight**

 

The strange thing about having the last word against someone like Kougami Shinya was that there was really no satisfaction to be had with it.

Akane stared miserably at her quickly cooling cup of tea, her fist propping her chin as her other hand twirled the spoon through the liquid aimlessly. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t had conflicts before. But those instances were minor and smoothed over by a simple conversation. But this was bigger. This could be unforgivable. After three days, she felt that this cold shoulder had overstayed its welcome.

As if suddenly prompted by her thoughts, her head perked up at the sound of keys unlocking the front door.

She stood up quickly when it swung open, the instinct so prompt that she had done it without thinking. Shinya stared at her, half-confused and half-surprised before settling his features like the Sphinx. Now that she had his attention, she didn’t know what to do with it.

"I–” she started, “I–uh…we need to talk.”

He considered this then nodded slightly. “All right.”

He crossed his arms and waited, closing the door and leaning against it like he could stay there forever. Which he probably could. That was the thing about him. It’d been a long time since she’d seen him like this, a monolith so unmovable it was hard to get anything through to him. He knew how to be intimidating and unapproachable when he wanted, having perfected that craft long before he met her.

Akane tried the cracks anyway. “You can have the bed every other night.”

Clearly, that was not what he was expecting, judging from the way his careful facade momentarily broke. “What?”

She waved her hand aimlessly. “Well you know, since this is our first fight. And I’m not sure about the etiquette when it comes to sleeping arrangements. It’s certainly unfair that you have to sleep at the couch every night. So I’m just, you know, I’m just planning in advance in case it lasts longer than we expect.”

She shut her mouth, the silence becoming even more pronounced at the tail of her babbling. His eyes were always terrifying with how they seemed to see everything, always direct and level. It was easy to see why he was effective in the interrogation room. But Akane, her hands clenching and unclenching, was never the type to look away.

He stared as if he was unsure of what to make of her for a good solid second, before his mouth faltered like she had wrung a smile out of it. He ran a tired hand through his hair, shaking his head almost in resignation.

"How do you do that?”

“What?”

“How do you always manage to make me not want to be mad at you when I want to be mad at you?”

Akane’s mouth opened like a fish before closing again.

"I’m sorry?”

His eyes softened, amusement leading to something quieter. “There’s a start.”

He walked towards her, closed the distance and dropped at the chair next to hers. The cooled tea sat between them, and Shinya followed her move and rested his chin on his hand.

“So I think we’ll have that talk now.”

“Yeah.”

“And if my assumption is right and we are as terrible at fighting as I suspect, then the sleeping arrangements won’t be necessary.”

He turned his eyes to her and half-smiled, the lopsided one that made his eyes kinder and made him look less like the intimidating man he pretended to be. Akane took a breath and felt her heart ease back into its notch, the relief like popping a dislocated joint back to where it belonged.

She wanted to hold his hand and tell him what he’d missed and ask what she’d missed, but she could hold that off for now. There would be time later.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **xii. What do they do when they’re away from each other**  

 

“Why are you in my house again?”

“You’re my friend, aren’t you? Friends are supposed to spend time with one another, I hear.”

Gino looked up from his laptop with an unimpressed glance. “Akane’s out of town again, isn’t she?”

“No.” He took a beat. "Even if that was true, so what?”

“You’re hopeless.”

The husky trotted to his side and rubbed his muzzle on Shinya’s arm. He returned the gesture with an affectionate scratch behind Dime’s ear.

“At least someone here appreciates my company.”

Gino smirked. “I know a pity nuzzle when I see one.”

 

 

 

* * *

  

 

 

> **xiii. Nicknames for each other**

 

"This is unnecessarily complicated.”

“I told you it’s not that bad,” she said. “But if you insist on complaining, let me do it.”

He felt all too welcome to hand the flashy piece of technology to her, an investment she had insisted upon after having found out he still used a flip phone like a Neanderthal. She flipped through the pages of his old-fashioned contact book, registering the numbers there to his new phone.

It didn’t take her long seeing as how he could probably count the people he cared to keep in contact with his own hands. After she had finished with the setup, she held it out again, which he took with a distasteful sort of surrender.

“Now you do know how to use a phone to call people, right?”

He frowned as he fiddled with it. “I’m not senile yet.”

“No, you’re only a century behind,” she muttered.

He let out a short breath of a laugh then but decidedly not from what she had said.

“What?”

“So you don’t like ‘sweetheart’ or 'dear’ but you’ll settle for 'Akane Peace sign Mushroom Heart’?“

"That’s not a pet name. They’re emojis I just added for fun,” she explained, blushing a little in embarrassment.

“Whatever you say, 'Akane Peace sign Mushroom Heart’.”

She pursed her lips. “I swear if that’s what you’re calling me from now on I won’t hesitate to call you 'Shinya Hamburger Book Heart-eyes-face-guy’ in public.”

He looked delighted. "Is that what I’m listed as in your contacts?”

“Yes,” she said, her eyes narrowing as she found that she didn’t like his reaction at all.

He mulled over that for a moment before shrugging easily, liking his new phone much more now. “I think I can live with that, 'Akane Peace sign Mushroom Heart’.”  


 

 

* * *

  

 

 

> **xiv. Who is more likely to pay for dinner**

 

“You’re so dead.”

He scoffed. “Don’t speak so soon.”

“Sorry, what? Come again?” she teased before her avatar effectively threw a combo that drained whatever remaining HP he had left. “Ha! Told you.”

He frowned, crossing his arms as the scene delved into the results page with Akane’s character in a victory pose. “This isn’t a competition, you know.”

“You’re only saying that because you lost.” She playfully tossed a popcorn to his face which he barely managed to catch in his mouth on time. “Up for one more?”

He looked at her cheerful grin and decidedly took the controller in his hand again. His thumbs gripped at the joysticks in determination. “Fine. I’m getting you this time.”

“We’ll see,” she remarked, all seriousness back on as the scene charged into action.

“Winner treats loser to dinner.”

“By my count, you owe me three dinners at this point. Four when you lose again.”

“Just play, you brat.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **xv. Who steals the covers at night**

 

“I swear you have it out for me to get hypothermia one day,” he muttered in the dark.

His arm reached out ineffectively to her side where she had bunched up the blankets all around her. He pulled at the thing but it didn’t budge. He tried again but she was stubborn even in her sleep.

Shinya propped himself up on his elbow to frown at his peacefully slumbering wife with equal parts annoyance and affection. How someone so prepossessing be so annoying, he’d never understand. He surrendered with a bothered grunt and grasped her waist, opting to use her as a body pillow instead.

“You’re lucky you’re so warm,“ he grumbled as she involuntarily cuddled up to him in her sleep.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **xvi. Who kissed who first**

 

“Why haven’t we kissed again?” she asked some days later after officially dissociating “strictly” and “platonic” from their label. She didn’t see the point in sidestepping to get the answers she wanted. They’d been friends too long for her to stop being honest with him even if they were no longer just that.

He looked surprised at the question but quickly regained his wits before answering, “You didn’t react so…favorably the first time I tried it. So I didn’t know if you liked physical affection.”

“Well I do.”

“That’s good to know. I’ll take note that.”

“Only take note of that?”

“For future reference,” he added.

She pursed her lips, wondering why he was being so thick-headed at such a time.

“What?”

She only stared at him, arms crossed as she waited.

He put his book down, his eyes searching hers for a moment before understanding slowly dawned on his face. “Do you want me to kiss you again, Akane?”

“Well, of course,” she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She was so caught up in marveling at how oblivious he was that she didn’t fully register what he was doing until he was in front of her. She scrambled to meet him, hands already up to stop him from going further.

“Wait — you mean now?” she squeaked, the last syllable cracking despite herself.

“Why not?” He arched an eyebrow. “Now’s a good time as any.”

“I mean that goes without saying of course. I wasn’t necessarily asking, you know, at this instant.”

“Then when?”

“I don’t know! Any time. It’s not like I’m saying I want us to drop everything and do it now. I just wanted to be certain since it didn’t seem like you wanted to do it again because the first time was so awkward and you weren’t making any…you know, I’m–I, uh, I’m just saying it’s not as if it would be that bad to—“

Shinya ignored her cautioning hands and slipped between them to tilt her chin up, swallowing whatever words she had remaining. Her eyes widened once her thoughts caught up with her heartbeat, every nerve centered at the feeling of his fingers on her face.

He only moved back an inch when he realized she was holding her breath. "Sorry, you were saying? I didn’t quite catch that.”

He was teasing but up this close, Akane could see just how dark his pupils were.

“Huh?”

“What would be that bad?”

“Er. That. Uh–kissing me again, I mean.”

“Oh, of course. The absolute worst,” he agreed, before looking at her lips and pulling her to him again.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

> **xvii. What would they do if the other one was hurt**

 

"Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Akane jumped a little in surprise at the voice. She frowned at the pain from her reaction, still unused to the injuries healing on her body.

“Don’t be unrealistic, Ginoza-san,” she said with a tired smile. “How can I be in bed when he’s here like this?”

“He’ll be fine, you know. The doctors tell me there’s a good chance he’ll wake up by tomorrow.”

“I know. But that’s not the point.”

He shook his head in resignation. ”You’re as stubborn as him and that’s saying something. When he wakes up, be sure to yell at him how it nearly got him killed. He’ll take it more personally coming from you than me.“

Akane tried to smile again but Gino wasn’t fooled.

”What happened?” Her voice came out hoarser than she’d like.

"Idiot was stationed with me at another case until he overheard on the radio what happened,” Gino sighed, settling on the chair at the other side of the bed. “We were in the middle of interview rounds and he basically dropped everything. I told him we needed to stop and plan before charging in like two rookies. Of course with your condition, he wasn’t thinking straight. And impulsiveness makes for an easy target, doesn’t it?”

“I was only unconscious. A couple of bruises and broken ribs.” She smoothed his hair back, his face cold against her fingertips. The only real proof that he was alive was the slow cadence of breaths rising and falling with his chest.

"You think if he knew that it would’ve changed things?”

She was silent for a moment before she answered. ”I don’t know.“

“Kou respects reason. He’s calculating, analytical and decidedly not as stupid as a lot of people. But he acts with his heart first.”

He looked at her, at her face pale and soft in the dingy hospital light.

“Even if it kills him?” she asked gently, already knowing the answer.

“Even then.”

Silence overtook them for a moment until she laughed, quiet and a little tired. “Do I get a say in that at least? That’s a bit unfair.”

“It is,” he said dryly. “But you’d do the same, wouldn’t you?”

Akane quieted and tightened her grip in place of an answer. Gino looked at them both, at the one unconscious and the one waiting and felt a mixture of sadness and resignation at the fact that there’d be little difference in the picture if the places were switched. He stood up and made to leave, already recognizing that he’d become less of a visitor and more of an intruder now in the place they had made for the two of them, so unconscious and automatic that they didn’t even recognize. Perhaps, two individuals so ready to die for each other could only fit with someone of their own kind. And perhaps, Gino thought as he closed the door behind him, they’d wise up and learn that choosing to live would be a much better way to save each other instead.

 

 

 

* * *

 

  

 

> **xviii. Who’s the cuddler**  

 

She woke up, head tossed and feeling very much like roadkill on the underpass of a busy highway. Clarity dragged in slowly and she was uncertain which came to her first: the hideous curtains that she would be hard pressed to hang on her bedroom window or the arm casually draped around her waist as if it was inconceivable for it to be elsewhere.

“Morning,” the arm’s owner said with a groggy murmur. He looked terrible and reeked of a hangover. If the cotton in her throat was anything to come by, Akane was certain she probably looked just as bad.

“Those curtains aren’t ours.”

“We’re in Kagari’s place.”

“Oh,” she mumbled, eyes blinking lethargically before dropping her head on his chest. Her mind drifted then jerked awake as she fully registered what he said. “Why are we here?”

“Office party,” he explained against the top of her head. “We all had too much to drink and his place was the closest. You passed out on his couch before we could leave so I just ended up joining you here.”

“Hmm”. She tangled her legs with his as she basked in his warmth despite the incessant throbbing on her forehead. “His couch is really soft. We should sleep and cuddle here more often.”

“Are you suggesting we christen his house?”

She laughed too loudly at that for the morning hour, and he joined in with his own quieter amusement tickling her ear.

“Get a room, you two,” Kagari called out as he trudged out of his bedroom, eyes red and voice hoarse with dehydration.

“Are you volunteering yours?” she asked.

“Ugh, no! Can’t you two just leave now?”

Akane chortled and Kagari wondered if it was possible for her to still be drunk so early this morning.

“Newlyweds,” he could only mutter as he watched them pick themselves off his couch in between fits of smothered laughter.


End file.
